God and Globalisation in India

Globalisation has brought rapid economic growth and has seen India become a more important part of the world politically.

This has lead Indians to prosper and create an Indian middle class.

85% of the Indian population are Hindu.

Hinduism and Consumerism

Nanda

Globalisation has created a huge and prosperous, scientifically educated, urban middle class in India.

Indians now work in the IT, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology closely tied into the global economy.

This is precisely whom secularisation theorists would suggest that would be the first to abandon their religious and supernatural beliefs.

However, a lot of these people still believe in the supernatural.

Study of Developing sciences (2007): Only 5% said that their religiosity had declined over the past five years whereas 30% said that it had increased.

"Urban, educated, Indians are more religious than their rural and illiterate counterparts."

Increased interest in religion has also been reflected in a dramatic growth of religious tourism, such as visits to shrines and temples.

It is becoming fashionable to be religious.

She rejects poverty and existential security theory as an explanation, because the middle class aren't poor.

Rejects the idea that their religiosity is a defensive reaction to modernisation and Westernisation.

The Indian middle classes are optimistic about the opportunities that globalisation brings them.

Increasing religiosity among the Indian middle class is a result of their ambivalence (uncertainty) about their new found wealth.

This stems from a tension between the traditional Hindu belief in renunciation of materialism and worldly desires.

This is resolved by modern holy men who preach that desire is not bad, but rather a manifestation of divinity.

Hindu ultra-nationalism

Nanda

Examines the role of Hinduism in legitimating a triumphalist view of Indian nationalism.

For example: the Pew Global Attitude survey: 93% of Indians agreed with the statement "Our people are not perfect but our culture is superior to others.

This is higher than any other country.

India's success in the global market is increasingly attributed to the superiority of Hindu values.

This a view that is constantly promoted by the media and politicians along with the idea that Hinduism is the essence of Indian culture and identity.

The worship of Hindu gods has become the same as worshiping the nation of India.

Hinduism has become a "civil religion."

This is creating a wider gap between Hindus and non-Hindu minorities.

Hinduism has penetrated public life, so that the supposedly secular state is increasingly influenced by religion.

For example, in Indian universities, Hindu sciences such as Astrology are being taught because they are believed to be able to prevent natural disasters.

Capitalism in East Asia

In recent decades, the so-called "Eastern Asian tiger economies," such as South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, have successfully industrialised and become significant players in the global economy.

The development of Capitalism in East Asian countries has lead sociologists to argue that religion has player a role similar to the one Calvinism played in the development of capitalism in the 16th and 17th century.

This has lead to economic productivity and the accumulation of capital.

Pentecostalism in Latin America

Berger: Pentecostalism in Latin America is the "functional equivalent," to Weber's protestant ethic.

This is done with an ethic of this-worldly asceticism.

He also underline Weber's point that religious ideas alone are not enough to produce economic development as natural resources are still needed.

For example: Whilst Pentecostalism has grown in Northern Brazil, the region lacks resources and remains backward. By contrast, the south, which is developing rapidly, has both a work ethic derived from Pentecostalism and the necessary resources.

As a result, In Chile and Southern Brazil, there is now a growing and prosperous middle Pentecostalist middle class leading a Capitalist development.

Pentecostalism: global and local

Christianity has globalised itself by expanding out of Europe, first into South America and then into Africa.

Lehman: distinguishes between two types of phases in this expansion.

2. Over the last century or so, it has spread because it gained a popular following from below.

For example: By 2000 there were 80 million Pentecostalists in Brazil alone.

1. Christianity accompanied colonisation and was imposed on the indigenous populations by conquest, often forcibly supressing local religions.

Attributes the success of Pentecostalism as a global religion in part to its ability to 'plug into,' and incorporate local beliefs.

It uses imagery and symbolism drawn from local cultures and existing religious beliefs, especially from spirit and possession cults.

Pentecostalists attack such cults as the devil, but their ministers will conduct exorcisms to rid people of evil spirits.

By doing so, they accept their existence and this validates local traditional beliefs, while at the same time claiming to give believers access to a greater power, that of a Christian Holy Spirit.

Pentecostalism has been successful in developing countries because it is able to appeal particularly to the poor who make up the vast majority of the population.

As it uses global communications media to spread its message, along with road shows and world tours by celebrity preachers.